Spikers Rebound From Loss To Barlow With Wins

By Andy Hutchison

What a difference a new day and another chance to win can make.

New lineup, tough rival, first competition jitters, Connecticut Public Television on hand to air the match … the list of reasons for Newtown High School’s first match struggles in a 3-0 loss to Joel Barlow of Redding were about as lengthy as the team’s nearly season-long winning streak (17 matches) last year.

The defending South-West Conference and Class LL state champion Nighthawks were not on their “A” game in the Wednesday, September 12, season opener, but even NHS Coach Tom Czaplinski, known for expecting nothing but the best from his team — no matter what the circumstances — could see why his mostly new to the starting lineup players came up short in their first test of the campaign.

The Nighthawks rebounded nicely with a well-played 3-1 (25-15, 25-14, 21-25, 25-13) triumph over visiting Lauralton Hall of Milford two days later.

“I hate excuses — absolutely hate excuses — but I think the fact CPTV was at our first game of the year; it was Barlow — which is our biggest rival — I think those things kind of added up to them getting a little nervous. which will hopefully explain why there was a such a drastic change between Wednesday and today,” Czaplinski said after Friday’s win.

The graduation of five of six starters who were on the court for Newtown’s state title win over Southington last fall left an unfamiliar lineup on the floor to begin this campaign, and Barlow is among the best in the conference, Czaplinski notes.

The Nighthawks will get another look at Barlow in an October 10 road match and, perhaps, get a better feel for how good they really are in this reloading year. If nothing else, the team got a nice dose of confidence from the second match. The Hawks spread the wealth with several team members getting on the score sheet with solid efforts.

Sam Steimle had nine kills, Amanda Rowan had three kills and four blocks, Kyle DeAndrea compiled 13 assists and had five kills, and three blocks, Courtney Escoda had six service aces; Meghan Logan had 17 assists; Caroline Kelly registered seven kills; Cassie Ekstrom logged four kills; and Mylis Post added three aces.

“Today was a great match. Lauralton’s a strong team. We served really well and we passed really well — those are the keys to volleyball,” Czaplinski said. “Today they got their serves in. They got their passes to target. They communicated a little bit better, but you know all of those things still need improvement. But much better than how we started the year.”

The Nighthawks returned to action with a match against Weston on Tuesday and picked up where they left off, pulling out a hard-fought 3-1 (25-23, 21-25, 28-26, 26-24) victory over another of the top two or three teams in the conference, according to Czaplinski.

Logan had 22 assists and added six digs, DeAndrea had 13 assists and two blocks, Escoda compiled 16 digs, Steimle had nine kills and three blocks, Kelly and Lauren Frazzetta both had nine kills, and Rowan added five kills.

The Hawks trailed, but hung close, throughout the beginning of the fourth game before finally going ahead 10-9 when Steimle blocked a Weston kill attempt at the net. The Hawks pulled ahead 21-15 before Weston battled back to tie things up, and eventually went in front 23-22, but Newtown finished the match on a 4-1 run, led by a timely Steimle kill and a Weston service error.

Throughout the match, Newtown’s players used strong serves to put their opponents on their heels, and defended and passed well to set up points. Czaplinski was pleased with his team’s performance.

“We definitely played above where we’ve been so far — definitely a step in the right direction,” the coach said.

The Hawks were scheduled to renew acquaintances with Lauralton in a road match on Wednesday (after The Bee sports section went to press), and will return home to face Pomperaug of Southbury on Friday, September 21 (6:30 pm).